Walking|The City of Helsinki is proposing to completely demolish Kaivokatu. There would only be two lanes left for cars, and Läpiajo would end. Walkers and trees would get more space.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
Helsinki is planning a public transport street from Kaivokatu in front of the railway station.
The plan would reduce car lanes and increase space for walking and trees.
Around 250,000 people walk around the main railway station every day.
Politicians will discuss the plan next week.
Helsinki the city wants a complete overhaul of the city center’s busiest intersection: Kaivokatu is now being proposed as a public transport street in front of the railway station. That would mean limiting driving. The farm should be replaced by trees and plenty of space for walking.
The city wants to reduce two car lanes.
Place is currently lively, but it is not perceived as cozy.
Around a quarter of a million people walk around the main railway station every day.
They come from different directions and go in different directions: to Postikatu, Kaisaniemi and across Kaivokatu to the south. They come by bus, metro or tram, and continue their journey by train or vice versa.
No one characterizes the area’s walking environment as pleasant.
On the contrary, in numerous surveys aimed at pedestrians, Kaivokatu in particular has been found to be a noisy, busy, scary and unpleasant place.
Kaivokatu is now a wide thoroughfare that is crossed by thousands of pedestrians every day.
The core center the new transport plan will be discussed by politicians next week.
The inner city south of Töölönlahti has been determined as the core center, which means that in addition to Kaivokatu, politicians have to take a stand on the arrangements of the Esplanade, Boulevard and Eteläranta, among others.
“These kinds of comprehensive treatments are common in European cities, but in Helsinki, nothing much has been done in the last 40 years. The city has been criticized for making stamp formulas and not taking into account the wider effects of individual solutions. Now that’s what we’re aiming for,” says the project manager Marek Salermo from the field of urban environment.
The new plan already provides for, among other things, the extension of the Laajasalo tramway and the completion of the Länsi-Helsingi tramway in the 2030s.
Limiting private driving with a drive-through ban already raised objections last year, when the Urban Environment Board approved the policy. In a tight vote, the coalition and Basic Finns remained in the minority.
Kaikokatu centralizing Rautatientor bus traffic to Vilhonkatu, which would make the street two-way, is also calming.
Landscape architecture firm Masu Planning has outlined green views and wider sidewalks for Kaivokatu.
“In front of the railway station, Kaivokatu would have one big crossing for pedestrians, which means you can cross the track almost anywhere. Traffic lights would be cut, but tram traffic would perhaps have one set of lights to match tram traffic and accessibility,” says Salermo.
Traffic safety on Kaivokatu is not bad now, so reducing the lights and pedestrian crossings sounds like a risk.
“The sense of security given by the lights paradoxically increases the risks, because the walker is no longer observing his surroundings. The gaze is focused on the other side of the street while waiting for the lights to change. It is not registered if someone drives towards red lights.”
The view from Keskuskatu towards Kaivokatu, when the front of the main train station has been transformed into a public transport street.
Helsinki the special thing is that the main train station is located right in the middle o
f the downtown pedestrian area. For example, in Stockholm and Copenhagen, the stations are a little further away.
“The station’s location in the heart of the city is also special internationally. The main train station is a real public transport hub, whose maintenance and escort traffic must be taken into account in the planning. There is no getting away from the fact that the railway station is a strong calling card to the core of Helsinki.”
New plans don’t come true very quickly. Most of the big construction projects in the city center are scheduled for the end of the 2020s and the 2030s.
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